Churchill portrait stolen at Santa Monica pub

August 3, 2010 12:17:03 AM PDT

SANTA MONICA, Calif. --

The search is on for a portrait of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill taken from a pub in Santa Monica.The enormous oil painting has been hanging on a wall at Ye Old King's Head Pub on Santa Monica Boulevard for decades.

The pub's manager says the person who took it did so when the pub was the most busy, between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.

Police are not involved but the pub is offering a reward for the return of the painting.